Partners
by Kessie-Louise
Summary: At four months old, Pyrogen was more than familiar with the way the Battle Colosseum worked. But when the Colosseum opens up tag team matches, will Pyro be open to forming an alliance with his new partner?


At four months old, Pyrogen was familiar with the way the Battle Colosseum worked. Victoire was the sweet young woman that announced to the bots when their match was about to take place. Hector was the man in charge of the whole shebang, and he treated all the bots that fought there like an extended family. Pyrogen also knew that if he continued to win the battles he took part in, Dr. White would be able to finish the next in Pyrogen's line: something that the professor called the 'Mighty Numbers.' This was why, when the Colosseum announced that it would start doing tag team battles, Pyrogen was rather confused that he was to be paired with another robot during the fight.

"I thought the point of the Colosseum fights were to bring the winner's robotist a large sum of grant money?" Pyrogen had asked William White as some point.

"It is," White agreed. "And that's why during the tag team events, the grant money would be split." White gave a short pause before adding, "If it's any consideration, I'm not a fan of the idea myself."

"I never said I disliked the idea," Pryogen found himself softly arguing, "I'm just… confused, that is all."

But Dr. White never answered him after that, because the professor's mind on gone on to more pressing matters. Perhaps Pryogen could still change the subject?

"The robot I am set to fight with isn't even from Sanda's numbers." he decided to ask. After a short pause he even added, "Are they?"

"No." Dr. White huffed. "CherryDyn helped create your 'partner.'"

Pyrogen gave a small nod, showing that he understood. He knew better than to ask further questions whenever CherryDyn was brought up. In some way, this help him see why Dr. White believed the tag team matches to be useless: both companies would see the grant money, instead of one monopolizing the funds from another. Dr. White -for his own reasons- just simply disliked having to share a victory (and the winning money) with Gregory Graham's robotics company.

"Good morning boys!" Victoire greeted them as they entered the preparation grounds. "You'll be in training room three today- your partner is already waiting for you Pyrogen."

"Thank you Victoire." both Dr. White and Pyro agreed before going on in. Sure enough, when the duo entered the training room, the simulation was already running with a robot going through basic defensive tactics.

The robot was even scrawnier than Pyrogen when he wasn't ignited- this robot looking to be nothing more but a large eye on top of a wire frame. The eye -Pyrogen had to admit- was well detailed to make sure the iris could display a range of emotion despite other limitations considering its lack of mouth or second eye. Whoever the robot's maker was was even generous enough to give them five fingered hands, despite them looking almost out of place against the thin piping that made up the robot's arms, torso, legs, and neck. The feet were not as lucky, they were designed to keep the bot upright and nothing more, and so they looked like not very creative cinder blocks.

Dr. White didn't seem very impressed by this robot, and to gain its attention, the professor cleared his throat loud enough for the bot to hear.

"Huh?" the robot questioned as it canceled the simulation. He -Pyro assumed it was a he now, based on its voice patterns- looked over at Dr. White and Pyrogen with a curious enough expression before a spark of recognition hit his circuits.

"Well I'll be bricked..." the bot mumbled to himself before shouting, "Hey Jory, look who I'm teamed up with!"

"Is it a bot without the EmoteCore?" a man shouted before coming into the room. "I _told_ them..."

But when the robot's maker looked up, he gave a quick glance from Dr. White to Pryogen and back again before letting out a relieved -yet still stunned- exclamation of, "Well I'll be damned! If it isn't Dr. William White in the flesh! Amazing!"

In the human's moment of delighted bewilderment, Pyrogen decided to look over this human in full. The robot's maker looked more like a garage shop mechanic than a scientist. A fat man this 'Jory' was, dressed in a pair of blue overalls that had seen better days, grease stains on his hands and past his wrists, even his jet black hair looked over greased in the harsh overhead light of the preparation room. Upon closer inspection, Jory's fat seemed to be more muscle based compared to Dr. Sanda's… fluff, along with a taller stature that made the human larger than life itself. Pyrogen decided he was alright with Jory's appearance, but Dr. White looked wary.

Jory seemed to notice some on Dr. White's discontent, so he took the opportunity to give introductions.

"Dr. White, it is an honor to have your bot work with mine." he gushed. "My name is Jory Jaxton, and my bot's name is Troilus- his serial's CDN 67-8.72.18 but I never call him that. Too formal and a pain to say when you're mad at 'em, you know?"

"No." came Dr. White's emotionless response. The professor seemed to now that he was being a bit too frosty, so he shook his head and decided to ask, "Are you related to Graham?"

"No!" Jory snorted. "Hell no! The man just signs my checks, if that. I joke sometimes that he doesn't even know who I am- isn't that right Troilus!"

"I meant in a business sense." Dr. White clarified, finding himself no less irked than before.

This did not distract from Jory's cheerful mood. To emphasize, with a wide smile he told Dr. White, "Like I said, I don't think the man even knows my name- he just signs the checks and I cash them in accordingly."

"Hey," Jory then suggested, "Let's give the bots some space to get used to each other, and we can talk more outside. What do'ya say?"

Dr. White stood a bit straighter and gave Pyrogen a dark glare. But, the professor diffused to agree with a small, "Sure."

Cheerfully, Jory led Dr. White out of the room, leaving the two robots to their own devices.

"Whelp, let's get going." Troilus decided, stretching his arms above his head. "We've gotta train before the match, yeah?"

"Yeah." Pyrogen agreed with a small nod. For a brief moment, Troilus's eye flickered with light, indicating a gleeful smile.

. . .

"You _do_ have some way of defending yourself… Do you?" Pyrogen asked as the two were about to start.

"Don't you?" Troilus teased. "Just step back a bit- it might get messy."

Pyrogen had no reason not to oblige and took several generous steps back. Troilus let out a small snicker before going almost dead silent in concentration. Just as the Mighty Number was going to ask if the CherryDyn bot was alright, several pores in Troilus's framework started to leak a thick, and incredibly black oil. Pyrogen was just too mystified at this to be worried first- he watched as the oil started to coat against Troilus's frame in enough layers that more than tripled the initial framework's width.

The process took only five minutes, and within that time Troilus had a silhouette far more dangerous than his initial frame. His singular eye was even coated in a way that it looked like the robot wore a welding helmet; the eye acting at the visor.

Seeing Troilus completely covered in oil, and just now realizing how it reflected the light in an amusing rainbow-like pattern, Pyrogen found himself impressed by his partner's defensive ability.

"Amazed yet?" Troilus teased when he noticed that Pryo was looking at him. The single eyed bot even gave a smug blink that substituted for a wink.

"Partially." Mighty Number 1 found himself admitting. "I suppose it's my turn now..."

"Please do." Troilus mischievously agreed.

Now, Pyrogen's fire abilities were far quicker to activate- the Mighty Number only having to pound his fists together hard enough to spark a combustion in his burners that instantaneously covered his body with live flames. With his defensive abilities active, Pyrogen too looked like a completely different robot, and Troilus too took a moment to appreciate his new partner's abilities.

"Not bad." Troilus snuffed. "Let's see what trouble we can get into now."

Pyrogen offered a small smile. "After you." he admitted with a trickster gleam in his eye.

As the two become familiar with each other and their powers, Pyrogen had to admit that he was having some fun. He was the one that suggested Troilus lay a layer of oil down to barricade them from an opponent, but Troilus was the one who had the idea of creating a whole ring around the opponent so the two could lay further traps on the battlefield. It was admittedly a rather dangerous move, since Troilus would have to be fairly close to their opponent, but after many a trail and error, the two were able to nail it down in no time.

"Can we take a break?" Pyrogen asked after several hours of work. "My systems need to cool off."

"Sure!" Troilus agreed. "I think I need a bit of a recharge myself, you know?"

And with that decided, the two canceled their defensive and offensive powers (Troilus took longer, obviously, than Pyrogen to do so) and went back inside the preparation room.

"You know," Troilus randomly decided to say after Pyrogen had given them each a decent bit of xel to process, "You really helped inspire the new gen of Battle Colosseum fighters. Even this generation is taking cues from your programming."

"Huh?" the Mighty Number mumbled, not sure if he was hearing his fellow robot right. Where was this introspection coming from? But Troilus was serious -or as serious as a one eyed robot with no other face could get- and continued on in a grave voice.

"Pyro, I'm a whole year old, you know that? But I've only had the EmoteCore for 9 days- almost two months after Sanda Tech let it become public domain. And you know why? It's because you happened. Because the EmoteCore inside you is so impressive, every robotist and their mother wants their robots with it now. Without you, the rest of us would just be… lifeless. Without you, I wouldn't be me. You follow?"

"I'm trying..." Pyrogen admitted. There was just something about this conversation that seemed to evade his logical processors. The one eyed robot could see this in his friend, and gave a hard sigh before trying again.

"It's obvious Jory's a mechanic, right? Well, before you stepped onto the scene, I didn't have much of a personality to go off of, you see? He made me to be the endless supply of oil he needed so he didn't have to carry around a heavy bucket back and forth, and risk getting sick if some of it got on him. I wasn't meant for the Colosseum fights- Jory just didn't want that for me. He built me, and loved me, just because I was a tool he needed to make his life more simple.

"But then you came along with your first fight. You did something that none of the previous battle bots have done before: you showed mercy."

"It wasn't that impressive." the Mighty Number muttered under his breath- embarrassed all the same.

"Did you not hear me? You gave your opponent mercy- you didn't kill them in a torrent of blood and fire in an arena known for its blood and fire. That _is_ impressive Pyro."

Troilus then recoiled, now truly noticing how perplexed Pyrogen had been since the discussion started. "You… you really don't get how special you are in the field of robotic developments… do you?" he whispered. He looked away before adding, "Without you, I wouldn't be… me. You know?"

Pyrogen, still confused, gave a small nod of agreement.

"You already said that." he pointed out, if only to keep the conversation going.

"I know." Troilus agreed- the spirit of defiance coming back to him again. "And until you get it through your circuits, I'm going to keep repeating it!"

"I have no doubt about that." Pyrogen muttered under his breath. Troilus gave him a rather hard look as his positronic brain tried to find a way to get the message through the bot's head. When no results came up, the CherryDyn bot came up with a new idea- and it was, unarguably, a much better thought.

"Hey Pyro, let's make a bet." he suggested- his eye once more gleaming a rather mischievous and excited way.

"What kind?" the Mighty Number carefully questioned.

"If we win all our battles tonight, let's meet up after and get to know each other better- yeah? Maybe even swindle Hector to let us fight exclusively by each other's sides 'til one of your creators grants us a sibling. Whatcha say?"

The Mighty Number looked back on the CherryDyn bot with some thought. In his case, Pyro knew that he was going to have other robots in his line eventually- Dr. White had promised that much. But he would admit to be just slightly lonely at the time too...

But, in truth, Pyrogen didn't really know Troilus enough to trust him completely with… well, anything. But there was something about this bot that he did like. Maybe they could be (what was that word Dr. White used to describe his and Sanda's relationship?) friends? Pyro wouldn't have minded some friends that were not Dr. White or Dr. Sanda...

"Sure." Pyrogen finally agreed. "But only if we win _all_ the battles."

If Troilus had the power to smile, it would have been a rather wide and bright one indeed.


End file.
